NDF backs passage of undiluted BBL to ensure peace in Mindanao

KORONADAL CITY—The communist National Democratic Front (NDF) in South Mindanao lent its support to the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in urging for the passage of an undiluted Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Efren Aksasato, NDF spokesperson for Far South Min- danao Region, told a local radio station in Koronadal City that the passage of a diluted Bangsamoro Basic Law will not guarantee that genuine peace would reign in the troubled south. He said even the Malacañang version of the BBL would not solve the problem of the Bangsamoro people because it was also a diluted version.

Aksasato said only by sticking to the original draft of the BBL could the decades-old Moro rebellion be addressed.

“The conflict will continue unless the aspirations of Muslims are achieved,” he said.

Murad Ebrahim, MILF chair, said in his speech at the 42nd Organisation of Islamic Cooperation-Council of Foreign Ministers Conference (OIC) in Kuwait that despite the setbacks being encountered in both houses of Congress, the rebel group remained confident about the passage of an undiluted BBL.

The 57-member OIC also passed a resolution on May 28, wherein it urged the Philippine government to ensure that the gains of all peace agreements it entered with the two Moro fronts be preserved in the proposed BBL.

The OIC also reiterated its full support to the Bangsamoro peace process and maintained that all the gains of the peace agreements with the Moro fronts should be fully represented to secure just and lasting peace in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, the MILF’s chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal yesterday said the group would continue to engage with the government even if the Bangsamoro region does not see fruition under the Aquino administration.

However, Iqbal said there remains the possibility that the MILF leadership could lose command over its followers if there would be no Bangsamoro autonomous region in place after President Aquino steps down on June 30, 2016.

“We are not losing hope that the BBL will pass Congress. We still trust that government will deliver,” Iqbal told the INQUIRER by phone.